


Covert Pregnancy

by mochegato



Series: Covert Jasonette [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, MariBat- Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Jasonette, MariBat, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:14:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27140927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochegato/pseuds/mochegato
Summary: Something is wrong with Marinette.  She isn't acting like herself and Adrien is determined to figure out what is going on.  So he puts 2 and 2 together and gets 5.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Jason Todd
Series: Covert Jasonette [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908970
Comments: 17
Kudos: 201





	Covert Pregnancy

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, yeah, the title gave it away but Adrien doesn’t know yet so shhhhh.

This was exactly what Adrien had been worried about. This is why he showed up in Marinette’s room before her wedding asking her if she was sure. He backed off because she promised him she was. She was confident this was the best move for her. And at first, it looked like she was right. Everyone could see the difference in her. That spark she used to have was back. That beaming smile returned and finally reached her eyes. They hadn’t seen Marinette like that since he first met her. And they all knew exactly what changed: Jason.

Jason was amazing to her. In their short marriage he had been nothing short of the ideal husband. It had been eight months of sickeningly sweet adoration and showering each other with affection. He showed her love and understanding, patience and support. But lately, Adrien had been noticing things. Little things. Things other people might not notice. Things that individually didn’t mean much, but taken together… Comments that Marinette made. Looks in her eyes. Excuses she made. Or as she was doing now, crying for no apparent reason. 

One minute they were sitting on the couch, talking about nothing while some show they weren’t paying attention to played on the television in the background, the next she was sobbing. When he asked her what was going on she said it was nothing, she was just tired. She yawned and told him she was going to go to bed and he could let himself out. 

There were only two things wrong with that. First, when she left she didn’t go to sleep. Jason hadn’t been home for a few days, which meant he wouldn’t be home to comfort Marinette, and Adrien was worried about her. So he took a bit longer to leave than he normally would have, which meant he heard her continuing to cry after she went to lay down instead of sleeping. Months ago, she would have called Jason when she felt like this, or she would have talked with him about it. But she wasn’t doing either. She was suffering alone, just like she did before she met Jason. 

Second, he’s known Marinette for years. He _knows_ tired Marinette. He might know Tired Marinette better than well rested Marinette. Tired Marinette is hyper. Tired Marinette bounces from thing to thing. Tired Marinette can’t focus. Tired Marinette is inspired, sometimes with the most heinous ideas ever thought of, but inspired nonetheless. Tired Marinette isn’t emotional at least not until she is so sluggish she can’t stand up straight. And even then, she isn’t like this. Tired Marinette is extra loving, not sad. This isn’t Tired Marinette. This isn’t well rested Marinette. This is something else.

The next few days seemed to go about the same, neither improving nor worsening. Marinette looked withdrawn, but she wouldn’t tell him that anything was wrong. But one thing he _knew_ about Marinette was that she loved Christmas, and with Christmas only a little over a week away, he was sure she was getting more and more excited. She loved the friendly atmosphere, she loved the family baking, she loved the snow (watched through the window of a warm room while drinking hot chocolate), and she loved making presents for everyone she loved. And talking about Christmas and her plans for presents _always_ made her happy.

“So, have you finished all your presents already? Or are you planning on using some of the time we’re closed next week to finish them?” 

She looked up at him a bit startled, “Oh… um” she looked down like she was thinking about what to say. “I, um… I thought this year I might buy presents for everyone. It’s not like the family will notice, so… It’ll be fine.” She gave him a weak smile.

That wasn’t like her at all. Making presents was one of the ways she liked to show she cared about them. It was her love language. He had never known her to not make a present if she could. “What! Why?” He exclaimed before he could stop himself.

“I just. You know this year I thought maybe I’d give myself a break and… um… and this year go a bit more traditional.” She offered uncertainly.

He stared at her incredulously. Why would she change it now? Why would she think she should change what she had always done now? What had changed… Jason. Jason had changed. What had he said to her that made her think her handmade presents weren’t good enough for his family? Adrien hadn’t known the Waynes very long but he knew for certain they would absolutely love a present from Marinette. They loved Marinette’s designs and they loved Marinette. If Jason hadn’t married her, he was certain the Waynes would have made her a part of the family another way. 

“Marinette, you’ve never been traditional. Making presents is your tradition. Everyone loves your presents. It wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t come from your hand.” He told her gently. She had to understand her gifts were more than good enough for everyone who loved her.

She looked down anxiously again but nodded at him, “Yeah, okay. I’ll see what I can do.” Instead of looking more confident, she seemed to shrink in on herself.

He smiled encouragingly at her. She would see. As soon as the family opened her presents, they would be so excited, she would forget any nervousness or insecurity she had indulged in to convince herself she shouldn’t do it.

By the time patrol came around, she did seem happier and more confident. It helped significantly that Jason had returned from his mission and was going on patrol with them again. It was also sure to be appreciated by the Redbird shippers, who had cropped up quickly after Ladybird made her debut with the bats a few months ago, working primarily with Red Hood. She was a rarely seen but much loved addition. 

Before patrol, Red Hood gave her a seemingly sweet kiss to the temple and whispered to her sternly. She smiled back weakly and nodded in response, turning to the family with a serious expression, ready to go out. He noticed even when she turned away, Red Hood kept a strong grip on her waist, not letting her wander too far from his side. And whenever Blackwing tried to get close to her, Red Hood would step between them. Adrien could feel the glares Red Hood was shooting him even through the helmet, but for the life of himself he couldn’t figure out what he had done to deserve it.

After a few moments of Blackwing awkwardly trying to catch Ladybird’s attention to see if she was okay, Batman brought the attention to himself, “Let’s pair off and head out. Nightwing, you’re with Robin. Spoiler, you’re with Red Robin. Red Hood, you’re with Blackbat. Ladybird, you’re with Blackwing.”

“No.” Red Hood spoke up gruffly. “Ladybird is with me tonight.”

“Hood…” Batman started out.

“Ladybird. Is. With. Me.” He growled out threateningly. Ladybird put her hand on his arm to calm him down.

Batman sighed and nodded. “Fine. Blackwing, you’re with Blackbat tonight. Ladybird, you’re with Red Hood.”

Blackwing scowled at Red Hood, but moved next to Blackbat. It wasn’t unusual for Jason to want to patrol with Marinette but he normally wasn’t so aggressive about it, almost like he was protecting her from them… or separating her from them. Or maybe it was him Jason was trying to keep her from. It was fine. He would see Marinette in the office tomorrow and he was sure Batman would not let Red Hood change the patrol partners next time.

Instead of quelling his concerns, the next day only made them worse. All the excitement from the night before was gone. Instead, she looked beat down and weak. She offered halfhearted smiles, which seemed to convince the other’s in the office that she was fine, but Adrien knew her too well. He eyed her closely as she walked through the office with a few models they were planning on using for their next show. She was having difficulty focusing on their conversation. It was nothing significant and anyone else might not even notice, but he noticed her periodically glancing critically at people as they were eating.

He watched her until he realized he hasn’t seen her eating lately. It wasn’t uncommon for her to do when she was stressed out. But, when she was reminded to eat or food was brought to her, she would always eat. That was the solution then. She might not be willing to talk about whatever was wrong, but he could at least do this for her. He could provide her favorite comfort foods. 

By the time she was out of her meeting, he had her favorite foods laid out on her desk for her. She walked in with a sigh before she looked up and noticed him and the food. She gasped and her eyes bugged out as the smell hit her. “Adrien, what is this?”

“I noticed you haven’t been eating lately so I thought we could finish up any loose ends we have before we close down for the next two weeks while we eat.” He answered cheerfully.

She pursed her lips tightly, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “That was thoughtful of you, Adrien, but… um… I’m trying to lose weight. Yeah! Trying to lose weight before the gala, so… uh… I think this isn’t the best idea.” She turned her eyes to him and gave him a guilty smile. “But I really appreciate you thinking of me! We should talk though before we close for the holidays tonight, just… not right now. I… have to… I’ll be right back.” She rushed out of the room.

When she came back, they decided to meet in the conference room instead. After making sure they had responded to everyone that was waiting, they decided to close the office early so the other employees could finish any holiday shopping they needed to do. It was the perfect opportunity to spend time with Marinette. They always had a lot of fun shopping and maybe he could get her to stop at a café with him and eat something. He didn’t know why she thought she had to lose weight but he did _not_ approve. She was already extremely thin. If anything she was too thin, especially considering their vigilante work and how many calories that burned through. It was bordering on unhealthy.

“Hey,” he started tentatively, “since we’re closing early anyway, do you want to help me pick some things out for Christmas? I still have a bunch of presents to get and you know the Waynes a lot better than I do. We could spend my money and hang out?”

She gave him another weak, tired smile. “I would love to, Chaton. But I am still so tired. I think I’m going to go home and take a nap. Maybe we can do it tomorrow? And I think we’re paired up tonight so I’ll see you then and we can talk and turn off the coms to plot presents.”

“Yeah, sure. That sounds good. I’ll see you tonight.” He nodded looking down. It felt like he was losing her, but more importantly, it felt like she was losing herself again and it was breaking his heart to see it.

When he got to the meeting point for patrol that night Ladybird and Red Hood were nowhere to be seen. They were later than usual. He was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Hey, Nightwing? Where are Ladybird and Red Hood?”

“Oh, Red Hood said they weren’t going to make it tonight.” He shrugged it off unconcerned. He leaned conspiratorially toward Blackwing, “It sounds to me like they are going to be pulling back from patrols entirely for a little while. I think Red Hood wants them to focus on each other since they never really got a honeymoon.”

“Huh,” Adrien looked away, his brows furrowed. “She was looking forward to patrol tonight…” Nightwing clapped him on the back.

“Newlyweds, right?” He laughed before jumping off to start his route.

Adrien stared after him, the pit in his stomach growing bigger and more acidic. It was fine. He would call her to go shopping tomorrow and talk with her then, preferably without Jason standing over her shoulder. He huffed, shook his head to refocus himself and jumped off the roof to start his route.

But the next day wasn’t better. Neither were the next few days. He called and texted Marinette each day to check on her and ask if she wanted to do something but each time she said she was too busy to do anything. It was like she cut herself off from him. Maybe he shouldn’t be so concerned. He knew he was clingy sometimes, so maybe she just needed a short break from him. But lunch with Duke made him rethink his that.

“Wait, so you haven’t seen Marinette for the last few weeks either?”

“Yeah. We were supposed to go out for lunch last weekend and she was going to go Christmas present shopping with me but Jason called at the last minute to tell me ‘you’re a big boy, you can do it on your own.’”

“Really?”

“Eh, yeah. Just Jason being his normal obsessive, controlling, asshole self.” He shrugged it off. 

“You think Marinette didn’t want to go?”

“No, I think she did, but probably Marinette needed more time for her presents and he didn’t want her stressed out so he interceded. You know Marinette, she’ll take too much on and doesn’t say no.”

“I suppose…” Adrien trailed off. That was true but Marinette would have told him that. She would babble endlessly, excitedly about the presents she was working on and the details she was putting into each one for each person and why. But she wasn’t doing that. She wasn’t talking with anyone, not just him. 

Concerned didn’t begin to describe what Adrien felt right now. He needed to talk with Marinette and see how she was doing and see what was going on. He understood wanting a honeymoon period but it just _was not like Marinette_ to close herself off from everyone around her, not if she was happy, not if she was mentally healthy and flourishing. It was what she did when she started spiraling. It was what she did during and after Hawkmoth. It was exactly what they had thought Jason was bringing her out of. But now it looked like he was helping to push her back to that state.

This was finally it. Jason was not going to be able to keep her away tonight. This was the Wayne family Christmas gathering. Jason and Marinette could not miss this without the family hunting them down and invading wherever they were. Adrien was going to be able to see Marinette and check on her, make sure she was okay. 

When he got to the manor everyone was already there chatting, laughing, and snacking before the gift exchange and dinner. Damian was scowling at something Dick said, or maybe it was at the reindeer antlers he was wearing while Cass smiled approvingly at Dick. Tim was chatting with Barbara and Stephanie about something that required outlandish gestures from Tim, eliciting belly laughs from Barbara and eye rolls from Stephanie. Bruce was pretending to read a book in the corner of the room while he watched his family interacting with a contented smile on his face. Duke had just poured a few glasses of wine and passed one off to Marinette before walking over to greet Adrien. 

Adrien gave him a warm hug but kept his eyes on Marinette, which is how he noticed Jason take Marinette’s wine away while she watched after it longingly with a pout but not an objection. Adrien cocked his head to the side and studied her expression. After a few moments he noticed it. He had enough experience in makeup to know when it was covering something. She had caked the concealer on around her eye but there was the telltale darkening there.

Before he even realized he had moved, Adrien had crossed the room to where Jason and Marinette were standing. “Hey” he yelled, getting Jason to turn around and face him. Adrien reeled back and punched Jason as hard as he could, putting his full weight behind the hit. The punch wasn’t enough to drop Jason but it was enough for him to stumble back a few steps.

“What the actual fucking fuck, Agreste!” Jason yelled holding his jaw and moving a little so he was between Adrien and Marinette.

Everyone in the room turned their attention to them. Only Dick and Duke had moved to intercede. The family was more than used to punches getting thrown. Standard practice was to assess if they were in the fight zone and might get caught in the collateral damage. If not return to what they had been doing before the fight broke out. However, this was different. Dick and Duke wouldn’t have even gotten up except it was Adrien. Adrien had _never_ hit any of them outside of a sparring mat. Whatever was going on must be something extremely upsetting to Adrien and have been wearing on him for a while.

Duke looked between the two, his eyes flashing golden for a moment before he looked back to Marinette with a look of wonder in his eyes. “Oh my God,” he said so quietly Marinette could barely hear him despite standing right next to him. She looked over at him with a questioning look on her face. He gave her an excited grin and nodded to her and moved to stand between the boys who were still locked in a staring contest before Adrien could throw any more punches.

“I don’t know exactly what you are doing to her, but it stops now! I don’t care who your family is. If you ever lay a hand on her again, I’ll make good on the promise I made to you before you got married.” He yelled at Jason, struggling against Dick, who was barely holding him back. 

“What the ever loving Fuck are you talking about Agreste?” Jason yelled back. He pushed to move forward but Duke held up a hand and shook his head with a stern expression. Jason glared at him before looking back at Adrien. “If you are suggesting I have _ever_ so much as laid an unwelcome hand on Marinette…”

“I can see the black eye, you bastard.” Adrien growled back. “You’ve been keeping her from going on patrol so I _know_ she didn’t get it there. That leaves you. God only knows how many others you’ve caused on her. That explains why she’s been crying so much lately, why she doesn’t go out with friends anymore. She’s not even eating. And, what?” he yelled motioning to the drinks Jason had taken from Marinette. “You don’t want your wife drinking in front of your family? She’s not the one embarrassing them self.”

Jason continued glaring at him for a few moments before he looked down and let out a deep sigh. Marinette moved closer to him until she was leaning against his side. He reached back blindly for her hand. They were a team, they would get through this. Dick looked at Marinette again, examining her eye. Adrien was right, now that he really looked, he could see the makeup hastily applied around her eye. He looked to Jason in shock, “Jason?”

Duke gave Dick a pointed look and shook his head to let Dick know it wasn’t what it seemed. The rest of the family took note of Duke’s actions and stared at Marinette like she was a puzzle. Cass was the first one to figure it out. Her eyes widened and she gasped as soon as she did. She looked to Marinette with a questioning look and formed a fist with her hand and shook it by her cheek. Marinette smiled back and nodded. Cass squealed in delight.

Tim and Damian caught the sign and whipped their heads back to Marinette. Tim jumped up to hug Marinette but Damian sank further back into the couch. “Oh for the love of… Tell me this isn’t true.”

Dick immediately glared at Damian. “Of course it isn’t true! Jason would never hurt Marinette. There is something else going on.”

“Obviously, idiot. Take a look around and rethink your assumptions. They’ve given more than enough clues.” Damian huffed out with a roll of his eyes.

“Marinette? Jason?” Dick prompted them.

“Yeah. I’d love to hear what the explanation for all of this is.” Adrien jeered trying to push past Dick again.

“Not exactly the way we wanted to do this, we actually had presents to announce it, but…” Marinette started but she looked to Jason for help, squeezing his hand for comfort.

Jason took the hint and turned to her so he could wrap her up in his arms. He gave her a wink and a devilish smile before answering the question, “I didn’t knock her around, I knocked her up, asshole.” Marinette glared at him playfully. 

Bruce groaned and ran his hand over his face. “Really, Jason? That’s how you chose to tell us?” He let out a deep sigh and smiled at them. “Congratulations Marinette and Jason. That’s really exciting.”

“Tell us what? What’s exciting?” Adrien looked around confused, “What does that mean?”

Marinette smiled kindly at Adrien, “It means, I’m pregnant. That's why I want to drink the wine but I can't. That's why I have no appetite lately, because I throw up anything I eat and just the smell or _thought_ of the smell does the same. That's why I can't go out with you guys at night anymore even though I keep trying, because I start out fine but I’m so utterly exhausted and the world is usually spinning for me by the time patrol ends. It's why I cry at commercials on the TV, because I'm so ridiculously emotional right now. And I know I’m being overly emotional but I still can’t stop the tears. The more I try, the more I cry. It’s infuriating. I’m emotional and nauseous and hungry and exhausted and scared. But more than anything else, I'm excited and really happy. I can't wait to have a family with Jason.” She smiled lovingly at Jason. He reached down and stroked her cheek.

“You're going to be a mom?” Adrien asked tentatively, excitement already shining in his eyes.

She smiled shyly at him. “There are consequences for being impulsive. This is it. Plus, you know, wielder of Creation,” she pointed at herself. “Apparently that greatly increases my likelihood of getting pregnant.”

“And the black eye?” Dick asked for clarification.

“Ugh. I don’t know if it’s because of the miraculous intensifying things or just natural hormones but I’ve had ridiculous morning sickness. Honestly, I’m so beyond excited about the baby, but I’m ready to be past the throwing up constantly part. Have you ever thrown up so violently you gave yourself a black eye?” She pointed to her eye. “I have. 0/10 Do not recommend.” 

“You’re going to be a mom.” Adrien repeated with a huge grin. Completely ignoring the last part of her statement.

Marinette laughed. “Yes, I'm going to be a mom. Jason is going to be an amazing dad. And you, if you can stop punching my baby's father for 5 minutes, are going to be an awesome uncle.”

“I'm going to be an uncle?” Adrien looked at her in wonder before it all finally settled in. He turned to Dick and yelled excitedly, “I'm going to be an uncle!” He turned to Duke and grabbed him into a hug, “I’m going to be an uncle!” He turned to the next person and said it again. However that next person happened to be Jason who was not as amused by his excitement as the rest of the room. “Yeah, I know. I’m going to be the father.” He said flatly.

Adrien’s expression quickly switched to guilt. “Oh God, Jason, I’m so sorry! I’m sorry for hitting you and I’m _really, really_ sorry for thinking you would hurt Marinette.”

Jason waved him off, “Nah, it’s okay. I’m glad she has you to protect her. I worry about her, you know, especially now. Late nights, all-consuming design kicks, asshole businessmen… I know she can handle herself, but it’s good to see you’ll have her back if she needs it, even if it had to be from me.”

Adrien watched them with a soft look. Jason was watching Marinette so lovingly and stroking her cheek so gently. The smile on his face as he looked at her was pure bliss. And the look Marinette was giving him displayed a peace and elation he had never seen on her face. Looking at them now, he doesn’t know how he could have ever thought otherwise. Jason was going to be an amazing dad and she was going to be an amazing mom. He started as a sudden thought struck him. “Hey, Marinette? Have you told your mom already?”

“Oh God yes!” Jason exclaimed before Marinette could respond. “I’d like to live to see my child, thank you.”

She smiled wryly at him and chuckled. “She almost knew before Jason did. I wasn’t willing to risk her wrath again.”

Tim looked at them with an incredulous expression. “Seriously? I’ve seen her mom. She’s shorter than Marinette, and that’s saying something.” He ignored the glare she sent his way. “Are you seriously saying you’re afraid of her?”

“Yes.” Jason responded without hesitation.

“Is she really that scary? Really?”

Jason, Marinette, and Adrien looked at each other with grim looks and haunted eyes, “Yes!” they responded at the same time.

“We didn’t tell her about the wedding until a few weeks after and I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous and scared.” Jason shuttered. He reflexively hugged Marinette closer at the thought.

“I can’t believe you seriously thought Jason would hurt me at all let alone risk my Mom’s wrath.” Marinette shook her head with a smile, snuggling into Jason’s chest.

“How was I supposed to know? You said you weren’t eating because you were trying to lose weight!” Adrien exclaimed. “That’s not what I expect a pregnant woman to say.” Marinette winced at that.

“You said you were trying to lose weight?” Jason straightened up.

“I panicked!” Marinette exclaimed. “We weren't telling people we were pregnant yet and I just said the first thing that came to my mind.” She looked down sheepishly. She really should be better at thinking under pressure by this point.

“And that was to lose weight?” Jason asked cautiously.

Marinette sighed, “I had just been talking with some models who said another brand told them they needed to lose weight. I was thinking I should talk to Adrien about a company policy against things like that.”

“Oooo, that’s a good idea. We should do that.” Adrien nodded.

“I know, right? So it was on my mind.”

“Okay… so you're not worried about your weight, right?” Jason searched her eyes for confirmation.

“No,” Marinette shook her head, eyes shining fondly at him. “My priority is making sure our baby and I are healthy, not my weight.”

Jason sighed a relieved breath, pressing his forehead to hers and smiling adoringly at her. “Good because I love you like this…” he kissed her cheek, “and I’m going to love you like you'll be in 3 months…” he kissed her forehead, “and how you'll be in 6 months…” he kissed her other cheek, “and how you’ll be after the baby, too.” He pressed a gentle but passionate kiss on her lips and hugged her even closer.

“Ew! Guys we do not want to see you reenact how you conceived the baby.” Tim groaned in disgust.

“Relax. We’re not going to do anything here.” Jason snapped. A relieved sigh was heard from more than one person in the room. “But we can get the video out if you want.” Jason added with a smirk.

Marinette squawked and turned a deep red color, furiously waving her arms. “There is no video! He’s joking.” She slapped him arm before burying her head in his chest trying to disappear in embarrassment.

“Yeah, it would be hard to figure out which video it was…” he added grinning devilishly down at her. He wanted to see just how red he could get her to turn and embarrassment in front of his family was the best way to do it.

“There are no videos. He’s just being an ass.” She turned quickly to the family to reassure them.

“That’s what she wants you to think.” Jason smiled even wider.

“Jason…” she growled. Jason noticed the subtle switch in red on her face from embarrassment red to annoyance red and decided the game was over. It was no longer teasing. It was now picking on her. She was having a rare period of not feeling like she was going to throw up or pass out and he didn’t want to ruin that for her.

“Okay, sorry. I was just kidding.” He rubbed her arms and kissed her temple gently. “It’s too magical to be caught on film anyway.” He couldn’t stop himself from adding with a cheeky grin. Marinette let out a deep, long suffering groan but let him wrap his arms around her from behind and nuzzle into her hair. He chuckled lightly, his hands finding her not-yet-showing belly to caress it, and whispered into her ear, “I love you.” She sighed again, covered his hands with hers, laid her head back on his chest, and whispered with a contented smile, “I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Fact: I threw up so much and so violently during one bout of morning sickness, I broke a bunch of vessels in my eye and around it, effectively giving myself a black eye. Hence it’s mention in this fic.  
> Also, we’re pretending there was never a Blackwing before.  
> Also also, the sign Cass did was the sign for “aunt”.  
> If it isn't clear, Marinette decided not to make handmade presents because the morning sickness is making her miserable and she doesn't feel well enough for long enough to make presents, so Jason told her it would be okay if she didn't do it this year, the family would understand. Jason is glaring at Adrien at the patrol because Adrien, not knowing the situation, convinced Marinette she should make the presents, adding a lot of stress to Marinette.


End file.
